


trust exercises

by abeyance



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Kissing, Mentions of past, Millennium Falcon - Freeform, Protective Ben Solo, Redeemed Ben Solo, Reylo Secret Santa 2019, Soft Ben Solo, TROS happened, because!!!!!! reasons, but ben lived, but more of his hair than of rey, maybe a marriage story gave me an idea, maybe it didnt, probably on the
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:20:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22053940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abeyance/pseuds/abeyance
Summary: Out of all the shit they had gone through together, attempting to convince Ben into a hair cut has proved to be the most challenging.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 23
Kudos: 174





	trust exercises

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MyJediLife](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyJediLife/gifts).



> this is my Reylo Secret Santa Gift for MyJediLife! happy holidays, love!

Rey jumped back on the bed with her hands rising to hide her face, terror overtaking her. She threw the blade over her shoulder, out of sight, hoping the lack of it would come into her favor. 

She squeezed her eyes shut as the dark lump sat straight up. They closed just in time to see the ridiculously long strands of inky hair cut through the air as its owner’s head whipped towards her. 

“Rey, what…” She opened one eye and peaked through her fingers. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she repeated, biting her cheeks. She watched his eyes shift to the sheets under them. She followed his eyes, cursing to herself when she saw the evidence strewn out across it. Looks like she  _ did _ get some, after all. 

“How...how could you…”

“I’m sorry! I said I’m sorry!”

“And I thought we were over this!”

“—over what?”

“The part where we couldn’t trust each other, Rey! After everything we did to build that trust - after we  _ gave our lives  _ for each other!”

“You  _ can  _ trust me, I promise!”

“How can I? After - after you  _ betray _ me like this!”

“Ben, I’m sorry, but this is getting ridiculous.”

“No, it's not.”

“Ben. Please.”

“ _ No.  _ I can't do this.” He stalked out of their room, pulling a shirt over his head. The door automatically slid shut behind him.

After a minute of lingering a glance at where he went, Rey turned back to the bed, bracing her hands on her knees. She looked at the small clump of black that remained on the blankets - and couldn’t help but smile. It was hilarious when he used their sacrifices against her for nothing but little things like this.

Rey pinched the hair between her fingers, picking it up and disposing of her small victory. She retrieved her small blade from the ground. 

Out of all the shit they had gone through together, attempting to convince Ben into a hair cut has proved to be the most challenging.

She manually s lid the door open, sneaking down to their living space. Sure enough, as Rey expected, Ben was Bent over the counter, preparing his usual cup of caf. He developed the obsession after countless sleepless nights closely following their First Order defeat. Rey always made it for him - so she needed to bite back her smile as she watched him mess with the machine, shooing off the Aid-Droid in spite.

Rey creeped up behind him, hoping he was focused enough to not sense her. But her fingers brushed his neck as she tried to take a lock into hand, and he spun around quickly, catching her wrist.

“ _ No.” _ he let go and returned to his caf-making.

“Come  _ on. _ You wouldn’t let any hairdresser at the last port do anything. Nor the one before that.”

“Yeah, and there’s a reason.”

“A reason that inherits you having longer hair than me?” she mussed up his head in emphasis, the locks easily reaching his shoulders at this point. Ben tilted slightly away, wary of her intentions.

“Yes. A very good one.” she watched him fail to start to caf blender one more time before taking over. Ben let her, moving to the side and placing a hand on the counter. 

“I’m waiting for the reason, if you couldn’t tell.”

Ben sighed. “I don’t - I don’t trust these droids.” 

Rey looked at him. “Seriously? That’s it? I could have just found a droid-free establishment.”

He rolled his head and continued. “It sounds less than it is. I only trust  _ one _ droids. And  _ only _ this droid. No living species. Too much room for error.”

Rey pushed the brewing button and then turned to him. She mirrored his stance.

“Alright, I get that. A little too loyal, I’d say, but that's not a bad thing. Where can we find it? I'm so desperate at this point that we will go there right now.”

“That’s the thing. It was in the First Order base.” he diverted their eye contact. 

“- Oh. Okay.” she stepped closer to him, taking his hand. Ben accepted it gladly. He took his hand from the counter, replaced his weight onto his hip, and covered her hand with both of his own. She watched as he rubbed it and played with her fingers - it was something he had started to do to distract himself from thinking too much of the past when it was brought up. Their direct contact always sent waves of calm through both of them. It seemed to grow to be their go-to. 

She knew this question would maybe be difficult to ask, but at this point she was curious. Rey brought her one free hand to join the rest in advanced apology for asking. Hopefully, the contact would give enough ease to soften memories. “Who cut it...well, before?”

She didn't want to elaborate on what she meant, but her mind screamed the extra part of the question. She knew he could hear it. He shrugged. “My mom.” 

“Even when you were training?” 

He nodded. “She came by enough for it to be a regular thing. We would talk while she did it, so she had a reason to not talk too much.”

She gave him one last squeeze before turning to brewer off, his cup full. She poured the specialties he had learned to prefer inside, mixed it, and handed it to him. 

Ben had his head tipped down as she did it. Long hair fell into his face and stayed there when he brought it back up. Rey brushed them back as he took a sip, eyes dancing over his features, looking for any signs of hurt or sadness. She just found tension.

“I used to cut my own hair,” she admitted softly. “On Jakku. There was no one else to do it for me.” a different kind of tension loomed in on Ben’s face. Even though her parents did love her, he never really got over the fact that they left her in Jakku of all places. Alone as a toddler. 

“Who does it now?”

“Um,” Rey thought, her brows furrowing. “No one. I haven’t cut my hair in a bit, actually.”

He placed his cup down, stepping closer to her. Rey looked up at him as Ben ran his fingers down both sides of her head, sweeping her hair to the front of her shoulder. It was starting to go well past her armpits. She needed a cut, too.

“I have an idea.”

Ben place a kiss to her scalp, and then pushed her shoulders back enough to look at her. 

“If I let you cut my hair, will you let me cut yours?”

He stared at her for a second. “What?”

“Trust exercise.”

“I already trust you.”

“Not ten minutes ago, you didn’t.”

“Well yes, because you attacked me. In my sleep.”

“There was no other way. I had to go to the extremes.”

“Compromising a haircut for a haircut isn’t extreme?”

“No, its rock bottom. But it’s also a trust exercise.”

Ben looked at her for a long moment. “Fine. But you do me first. For the pressure of if you are to mess up, I can hand you my revenge by messing yours up, too.”

“And then we’ll look like that crazy couple that sells mysterious jerkies at the market.”

“Great. Even more pressure to not mess up.”

* * *

He tried to hide it, but every time she cut through a piece, Ben cringed. 

Fortunately Rey was in a certain line of sight that hid her smiles whenever she saw him do so. He would glance to the rag that had a growing pile of cut hair every time she added to it, and froze every time she went to cut another lock, so as not to get the angle of or something. 

She had started from the upsides and ended with one last one in the middle, where she left a kiss at his nape when she was done. 

Rey then circled around to the front. Ben watched her with his eyes, but still did not dare to move his head. She thought he looked good - not that she was praising herself or anything. But she definitely was. And she was proud of it. 

Although, some hairs still hung a bit too low for her liking in the front. Rey decided to challenge his commitment to not moving - she straddled him from where he sat stoically in the chair. She watched his jaw clench and felt his thighs tighten, but he did not move. She smiled and bit her lip. He brought his hands to each of her thighs, running them across her backside, up her waist and rib cage, to her shoulders, where he briefly rubbed them, to settle them at the small of her back. 

She brushed his strands from his face, latching onto a particular one and cropping it. Ben had closed his eyes, probably not wanting to watch. But she kissed both lids, which coaxed him into opening them and watch her make final adjustments. 

Rey grabbed the looking glass, placing it in front of her face. She could feel Ben twist underneath her and checking out her work. He was a little too quiet, and it scared her - but then his fingers gently pushed the mirror away. She was about to search his face for displeasure when he kissed her.

“Thank you,” he murmured against her mouth. She smiled into the next one, allowing him to easily lift her up and carry her back to their quarters. 

“What about my haircut?” 

Ben shook his head, placing her on the bed and climbing over her, placing kisses to her cheeks and head.

“I like it long.”

**Author's Note:**

> this satisfied something in me that i didn't know needed satisfying.


End file.
